Gov't Motors' Electric Edsel

President Obama prepares to drive the 2011 Chevy Volt as he tours a General Motors auto plant in Hamtramck, Mich., last Friday. With Assembly Plant... View Enlarged Image

Industrial Policy: The administration's electric car represents both the genius of American technology and the stupidity of its government. Imagine Rube Goldberg with $50 billion. Buy now and get a free 40-mile-long extension cord.

It wasn't exactly Michael Dukakis riding in a tank wearing a Snoopy helmet, but it was close. President Obama, who reportedly hasn't driven an inch himself since taking office, visited a GM plant in Hamtramck near Detroit on Friday to drive a Chevy Volt 10 feet off an assembly line. It was a perfect image, as the American economy is being driven off a cliff by this White House.

The administration, at taxpayers' expense, has labored mightily and brought forth an Edsel that needs to be recharged. If a camel is a horse designed by committee, the Chevy Volt is a car designed by government. It is a perfect example of industrial policy run amok, of what happens when government picks winners and losers. Without heavy subsidies and government ownership, it never would have been built.

The base sticker price is about $41,000, comparable to the base price for a BMW 335i. For that price, you could also get a good-sized SUV that can seat more than four people and get all your stuff back from the big-box store.

There's a $7,500 tax credit offered by our utterly bankrupt federal government that's supposed to help, but even a presidential commission in 2009 said the Volt "will likely be too expensive to be commercially successful in the short term."

The true cost of this car is staggering and makes you long for the day when the government bought $400 hammers. Not listed on the window sticker is the $50 billion bailout of a bankrupt car company. We are told we're getting the money back, but it's the government, not the taxpayer, and the money will be spent on something else.

We have to add in the $240 million in energy grants to GM from the Energy Department last summer, the $150 million in federal money to the Volt's Korean battery supplier and the $14 billion GM got in 2008 to "retool" its plants. Divide that by the 10,000 units in the initial production run, or even by the additional 45,000 units planned if initial sales go well.

So we built it anyway, largely because in 2008 candidate Obama pledged to put 1 million plug-in vehicles on the road by 2015. Not likely. What do you get for the money? A vehicle that seats only four because of a battery that runs down the center of the car. That battery can take the Volt an astonishing 40 miles.

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